The 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards Winners

The 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards winners were announced on Sun 23 May 2010 at an award ceremony hosted by three-time Drama Desk Award winner Patti LuPone at the LaGuardia Concert Hall at the Lincoln Center. 'Memphis,' currently playing an open run at the Shubert Theatre, was the most honored production of the evening, winning a total of four awards, including Outstanding Musical.

John Logan's 'Red,' playing at the John Golden Theatre through to 27 Jun 2010, was named Outstanding Play, and won a total of three wards.

'La Cage Aux Folles,' playing an open run at the Longacre Theatre, was named Outstanding Revival of a Musical, and won a total of three awards.

The Outstanding Revival of a Play Award, was presented to both August Wilson's Fences (playing at the Cort Theatre through to 11 Jul 2010) and to Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge (now closed). Finian's Rainbow which led the way in the nominations - having been nominated 8 times - in the end walked away with just one, the Featured Actor in a Musical Award which was presented to Christopher Fitzgerald.

The show that had the biggest disappointment of the evening was 'Yank! A World War II Love Story. Th show had been nominated in seven categories, but walked away from the Award ceremony empty handed. The 2010 Drama Desk Award winners and nominations are listed below:
***Winners are indicated in bold font.

• My Wonderful Day: Alan Ayckbourn
• Circle Mirror Transformation: Annie Baker
• Happy Now?: Lucinda Coxon
• Red: John Logan
• Next Fall: Geoffrey Nauffts
• Clybourne Park: Bruce Norris

Outstanding Musical:

• American Idiot
• Everyday Rapture
• Memphis
• The Addams Family
• The Scottsboro Boys
• Yank!

Outstanding Revival of a Play:

• A View from the Bridge
• Brighton Beach Memoirs
• Fences
• Hamlet
• So Help Me God!
• The Boys in the Band

Outstanding Revival of a Musical:

• A Little Night Music
• Finian's Rainbow
• La Cage Aux Folles
• Promises, Promises
• Ragtime

Outstanding Actor in a Play:

• Bill Heck: The Orphans' Home Cycle
• Jude Law: Hamlet
• Alfred Molina: Red
• Eddie Redmayne: Red
• Liev Schreiber: A View from the Bridge
• John Douglas Thompson: Emperor Jones
• Christopher Walken: A Behanding in Spokane

Outstanding Actress in a Play:

• Ayesha Antoine: My Wonderful Day
• Melissa Errico: Candida
• Anne Hathaway: Twelfth Night
• Kristen Johnston: So Help Me God!
• Laura Linney: Time Stands Still
• Jan Maxwell: The Royal Family

Outstanding Actor in a Musical:

• Brandon Victor Dixon: The Scottsboro Boys
• Douglas Hodge: La Cage Aux Folles
• Cheyenne Jackson: Finian's Rainbow
• Chad Kimball: Memphis
• Nathan Lane: The Addams Family
• Bobby Steggert: Yank!

Outstanding Actress in a Musical:

• Kate Baldwin: Finian's Rainbow
• Montego Glover: Memphis
• Jayne Houdyshell: Coraline
• Christiane Noll: Ragtime
• Sherie Rene Scott: Everyday Rapture
• Catherine Zeta-Jones: A Little Night Music

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play:

• Chris Chalk: Fences
• Sean Dugan: Next Fall
• Santino Fontana: Brighton Beach Memoirs
• Adam James: The Pride
• Hamish Linklater: Twelfth Night
• Nick Westrate: The Boys in the Band

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play:

• Victoria Clark: When the Rain Stops Falling
• Viola Davis: Fences
• Xanthe Elbrick: Candida
• Mary Beth Hurt: When the Rain Stops Falling
• Scarlett Johansson: A View from the Bridge
• Andrea Riseborough: The Pride

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical:

• Kevin Chamberlin: The Addams Family
• Robin De Jesus: La Cage Aux Folles
• Jeffry Denman: Yank!
• Christopher Fitzgerald: Finian's Rainbow
• Jeremy Morse: Bloodsong of Love
• Bobby Steggert: Ragtime

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical:

• Carolee Carmello: The Addams Family
• Carrie Cimma: Lizzie Borden
• Katie Finneran: Promises, Promises
• Angela Lansbury: A Little Night Music
• Kenita Miller: Langston in Harlem
• Terri White: Finian's Rainbow

Outstanding Director of a Play:

• Jonathan Bank: So Help Me God!
• Jack Cummings III: The Boys in the Band
• Sam Gold: Circle Mirror Transformation
• Michael Grandage: Hamlet
• Michael Grandage: Red
• Ethan Hawke: A Lie of the Mind

Outstanding Director of a Musical:

• Warren Carlyle: Finian's Rainbow
• Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Ragtime
• Igor Goldin: Yank!
• Terry Johnson: La Cage Aux Folles
• Michael Mayer: American Idiot
• Susan Stroman: The Scottsboro Boys

Outstanding Choreography:

• Warren Carlyle: Finian's Rainbow
• Marcia Milgrom Dodge: Ragtime
• Lynne Page: La Cage Aux Folles
• Susan Stroman: The Scottsboro Boys
• Twyla Tharp: Come Fly Away
• Sergio Trujillo: Memphis

Outstanding Music:

• David Bryan: Memphis
• Michael Friedman: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
• Joe Iconis: Bloodsong of Love
• John Kander & Fred Ebb: The Scottsboro Boys
• Andrew Lippa: The Addams Family
• Joseph Zellnik: Yank!

Outstanding Lyrics:

• Rick Crom: Newsical The Musical
• Kevin Del Aguila: Click, Clack, Moo
• John Kander & Fred Ebb: The Scottsboro Boys
• Dillie Keane and Adèle Anderson: Fascinating Aïda Absolutely Miraculous!
• Andrew Lippa: The Addams Family
• David Zellnik: Yank!

Outstanding Book of a Musical:

• Joe DiPietro: Memphis
• Joe Iconis: Bloodsong of Love
• Dick Scanlan & Sherie Rene Scott: Everyday Rapture
• David Thompson: The Scottsboro Boys
• Alex Timbers: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
• David Zellnik: Yank!

Outstanding Orchestrations:

• Larry Hochman: The Scottsboro Boys
• Tom Kitt: American Idiot
• Tom Kitt: Everyday Rapture
• John Oddo: All About Me
• Daryl Waters & David Bryan: Memphis

Outstanding Musical Revue:

• Fascinating Aïda Absolutely Miraculous!
• Million Dollar Quartet
• Newsical The Musical
• Simon Green: Traveling Light
• Sondheim on Sondheim

Outstanding Music in a Play

• Adam Cochran: A Play on War
• Adam Cork: Red
• Gaines: A Lie of the Mind
• Philip Glass: The Bacchae
• Hem: Twelfth Night
• Branford Marsalis: Fences

Outstanding Set Design:

• Sandra Goldmark: The Boys in the Band
• Phelim McDermott, Julian Crouch & Basil Twist: The Addams Family
• Derek McLane: Ragtime
• Christopher Oram: Red
• Jay Rohloff: Underground
• Karen Tennent: Hansel and Gretel

Outstanding Costume Design:

• Antonia Ford-Roberts & Bob Flanagan: The Emperor Jones
• Clint Ramos: So Help Me God!
• Bobby Frederick Tilley II: Lizzie Borden
• Matthew Wright: La Cage Aux Folles
• David Zinn: In the Next Room or the vibrator play

Outstanding Lighting Design:

• Neil Austin: Hamlet
• Neil Austin: Red
• Christian M. DeAngelis: Lizzie Borden
• Maruti Evans: John Ball's In the Heat of the Night
• Natasha Katz: The Addams Family
• Dane Laffrey: The Boys in the Band

Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical:

• Acme Sound Partners: Ragtime
• Jonathan Deans: La Cage Aux Folles
• Ashley Hanson, Kurt Eric Fischer & Brian Ronan: Everyday Rapture
• Peter Hylenski: The Scottsboro Boys
• Scott Lehrer: Finian's Rainbow
• Brian Ronan: Promises, Promises

Outstanding Sound Design in a Play:

• Dan Bianchi & Wes Shippee: Frankenstein
• Dale Bigall: Underground
• Adam Cork: Enron
• Lindsay Jones and Jamie McElhinney: Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers
• Fitz Patton: When the Rain Stops Falling
• Elizabeth Rhodes: John Ball's In the Heat of the Night

Outstanding Solo Performance:

• Theodore Bikel: Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears
• Jim Brochu: Zero Hour
• Colman Domingo: A Boy and his Soul
• Carrie Fisher: Wishful Drinking
• Judith Ivey: The Lady With All the Answers
• Anna Deavere Smith: Let Me Down Easy

Unique Theatrical Experience:

• Charles L. Mee's Fêtes de la Nuit
• Hansel and Gretel
• John Tartaglia's Imaginocean
• Love, Loss, and What I Wore
• Stuffed and Unstrung
• The Provenance of Beauty

The following awards were voted by the nominating committee and were presented by the Drama Desk at its awards ceremony:

Outstanding Ensemble Performances
This year the nominators chose to bestow special ensemble awards for acting to the casts of two shows. (Therefore, individual cast members for these shows were not eligible for acting awards in the competitive categories.)

Circle Mirror Transformation
The Temperamentals

Special Awards:
Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theatre.

Horton Foote's The Orphans' Home Cycle
To the cast, creative team and producers of Horton Foote's epic The Orphans' Home Cycle: "We salute the breadth of vision, which inspired the exceptional direction, performances, sets, lighting, costumes, music and sound that made it the theatrical event of this season."

Jerry Herman
To Jerry Herman "for enchanting and dazzling audiences with his exuberant music and heartfelt lyrics for more than half a century."

Godlight Theatre Company
To Godlight Theatre Company for "consistent originality and excellence in dramatizing modern literature, and especially for the vibrant theatricality of its innovative productions."

Ma-Yi Theater Company
To Ma-Yi Theater Company for "more than two decades of excellence and for nurturing Asian-American voices in stylistically varied and engaging theater."

Note:
The nominating committee made the following decisions related to the scope of technical award nominations:

Basil Twist's puppetry was included in the nomination for Outstanding Set Design for The Addams Family.

Bob Flanagan's puppet and mask design were included in the Outstanding Costume Design nomination for The Emperor Jones.

Fela! was considered last season in its off-Broadway premiere and received four nominations— Outstanding Musical; Sahr Ngaujah as Outstanding Actor in a Musical; Bill T. Jones for Outstanding Choreography and Aaron Johnson and Antibalas were nominated for Outstanding Orchestrations. Under Drama Desk rules, only new elements in a transfer can be considered.

Ragtime: The musical was initially nominated in two categories: Outstanding Costume Design: Santo Loquasto and Outstanding Orchestrations: William David Brohn. Both nominations were later removed as the Drama Desk Award's committee decided that both the costumes and the orchastrations were two similar to the earlier 1998 production of Ragtime, that both artists worked on.

Productions that won multiple Awards: